The present invention relates generally to hay harvesting machines and, more particularly, to a method of conditioning forage crops, such as hay, to accelerate the drying time between cutting and baling the crop.
Hay harvesting machine commonly referred to as mower-conditioners or windrowers, utilize a crop harvesting header to sever the hay crop from the ground and convey it rearwardly to a conditioning mechanism operable to crush or crimp the severed crop material at spaced apart intervals along the stem of the crop to facilitate the drainage of liquids from the crop material plant. Conditioning mechanisms of the type utilizing a pair of counterrotating, intermeshing conditioning rolls are provided with transversely extending flutes to effect conditioning of the severed crop material in a manner described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,929 issued to J. K. Hale.
Although the individual crop material plant, which generally has a waxy stem, has been broken in several places by the operation of the intermeshing flutes on the conditioning rolls, the liquids within the plant still require significant time to escape from the plant to permit satisfactory conditions in which the dried crop material can be baled and then removed from the field. A more rapid drying of liquids from the conditioned crop material could be obtained if the waxy stem of the crop material plant were split along the length thereof, providing a ready means for the liquid to escape from the plant.
Accordingly, it would be desireable to provide a method of conditioning a forage crop that could provide a more aggressive and extensive conditioning of the harvested crop material to decrease the length of time required to lower the moisture content of the conditioned crop material so that the crop can be collected and removed from the field without the use of chemical treatment to accelerate the drying process.